Veteran entertainer Melvin Williams keeps the packed dance floor at Hedonism II dancing until well into the morning at the New Year's Eve party held at the Negril hotel. - Paul Reid
WESTERN BUREAU:
NEGRIL, ARGUABLY the hub of the nation's tourism, was selected as the cover feature for the internationally popular Caribbean Travel & Life magazine, which is written for upscale travellers and has a readership of over 150,000 individuals in the United States.
The issue, which is now on news stands throughout North America, includes nine full colour pages of the hotels and restaurants, which sponsor the recently launched Negril Marketing Initiative. In addition, it gives a graphic look at Negril in general and what it has to offer to the world's travel industry.
"This coverage comes as a direct result of the Negril Marketing Initiative," said Baldwin Powell, chairman of the marketing committee of the Negril Chamber of Commerce. "The story takes readers on an intimate journey through Negril's evolution from a sleepy, nearly inaccessible fishing village, through its psychedelic hippie heydays and now to the complete vacation destination it is."
In the feature, co-ordinated by Negril' US-based public relations agency, Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communi-cations, the town is exquisitely portrayed as 'Jamaica's party town all grown up'. The feature, which takes readers on an intimate journey through the resort town, features small boutique properties, luxury all-inclusive hotels and top restaurants. Some of the properties and restaurants feature included The Caves, Jackie's on the Reef, The Rock House, Grand Lido, Sandals Negril, Cosmos Restaurant, Alfred's on the Beach, Pickled Parrot and the Jungle Night-club. The Negril Initiative, which intends to project Negril as unique destination, is made possible through the Negril Chamber of Commerce and the Negril chapter of the Jamaica Hotel Tourist Association. The Jamaica Tourist Board has also endorsed it.
According to Powell, the primary focus of the Negril Initiative, is to market the town as a unique destination through its small boutique hotels, restaurants, natural volcanic formed caves, dramatic cliffs overlooking the Caribbean Sea, it large all-inclusive resorts and its famous 7-mile beach.
